Theater - The Stranger: Jerome Robbins helped define the way an entire generation of dancers moved during Broadway's golden age, piling up Tonys and Oscars with hits like West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Peter Pan, and Gypsy. He was equally influential in the highbrow world of ballet.
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Great artists have often undergone pain and adversity throughout their lives. This article delves into one particular choreographer, Jerome Robbins, who did not let his struggles infringe upon his work. As a homosexual artist during the Red Scare, he and many of his friends were investigated. This “haunted” him, but he didn’t necessarily use this experience to influence his artistic choices. Nevertheless, he was truly spectacular. His iconic West Side Story choreography brought him fame and recognition, along with dozens of other credits. I appreciated how this article also featured insight from a student of his who described what it was like to work with such a great man. He was considered tough and meticulous, but the student, Peter Boal, was able to recognize that it was for a reason. As a student, I pay close attention to the purpose of the work I am assigned. While high school involves a great deal of busywork, I feel college has established a different goal: to learn. Jerome Robbins was not critical for the sake of being critical. He simply saw an incredible potential in his dancers.
I've had many teachers throughout my life that have been quickly categorized as "mean" or "terribly strict" because of how they weren't willing to let students slide under the radar and turn work in that wasn't up to par. At first I struggled with this because it meant that I never could get off easy, but over time I learned to accept the critiques, and that made me a better student. You don't become a stronger performer (in any context of the word) without someone providing a strong hand of guidance to help you get better. Based on what I've read about Jerome Robbins it seems like he doesn't have time to go around being mean just for the sake of being mean, so everything he does, although he can be incredibly harsh, is for the benefit of the dancers and their art. It’s this idea of tough love. Robbins has obviously had a very complicated time with self-identity and how the consequences of past actions have influenced relationships with friends, but even though he hasn’t addressed it through his art, it’s still inspiring to see him create such beautiful, memorable storytelling through dance.
Jerome Robbins was an iconic choreographer, and sometimes, actually a lot of the time, that amount of brilliance comes with a cost. To be able to produce something so unique, creative, beautiful, and astounding, he had to be an incredibly emotional person. Artist have to draw from somewhere, and it seems that Jerome Robbins took from his own life experiences and emotions. He was exceptional because his dancers were exceptional. They got there through “tough love”. I believe, to reach that caliber, one must be pushed, both emotionally and physically. There’s a very thin line between pushing enough and pushing too much. He obviously had good intentions, only trying to strengthen the dancers and perfect his vision but may have gotten tunnel vision. As artists, it hard to know when to stop and when to keep pushing harder. He was able to walk that line, and his work showed his, and his dancer’s, hard work.
As far as I understand, the dance world and ballet in particular has been pretty harsh from the start. I'm not a dancer, and I don't have any thoughts on whether or not that might change. But I can't help thinking, in our contemporary context, about the impact that Jerome Robbins may have had on the rehearsal environment. The author quotes Peter Boal as saying that “He lashed out at people, but it wasn't to hurt or degrade them. He was trying to bring all of us to the highest level.” We certainly still see this species or strategy of choreographer today, particularly in types of dance where precision and discipline is valued above all else, like ballet. And in many contexts, it's not only considered acceptable, but laudable, which I find a bit strange. We as an industry are putting in efforts to illuminate and eliminate workplace sexual harassment, but in many places, it's still okay for leaders to break their team in this way.
He is very much the way we think Broadway should move on stage, the definition of bravado with the snide charm about the movement. As far as his personality in the studio he seems pretty tame, my sisters are dancers so I know how harsh the teachers can be in the dance world. Now I am not sure like Jerome if all the teachers want the dancers to be there best selves, but for the most part that should be the entire reason for being harsh if their is no love behind the tough love then tough love just becomes cruelty. But Jerome certainly was not cruel he was just passionate, which is why I somehow identify with him, I can be very passionate sometimes and it can come off as harsh to some people. As far as his work in ballet, I know little about the world of ballet outside my yearly sojourn to the Nutcracker, but I know some very creative, convention-breaking works have been made in ballet just as how he took fairly standard theatrical dance and made it both masculine and more graceful, tough but very sensitive, brooding yet erupting in boundless celebration. I hope to be half the artist Jerome was.
Often times in the world of theater we forget about the work choreographers do. It is hands down one of the most important parts of a musical, as the choreography helps tell the story, and has the power to make or break a theatrical moment. We don't think about the power choreography has. There are many parts of theater that are "glazed over," things that are essential to making a show what it is but that we barely notice unless they miss the mark. Everything about art is a cog in the machine that is the final product, but we rarely think about each individual cog, each artist who went into making that show what it was. None of the shows mentioned in this article would have become what they were without his choreography. I really appreciate this article for bringing him the attention he deserves and sharing about his life and career, because it certainly has been an extraordinary career that deserves recognition.
It is very easy for us as viewers to forget about the work that choreographers do, similar to how our work often goes unrecognized by audiences. However, it is the work of the choreographer that often becomes iconic. Some examples are the audition piece in I Hope I Get It from A Chorus Line, as well as the snapping from the Sharks and the Jets in West Side Story, like this article mentions. I am sorry to learn that Robbins, like so many artists working during this period of time, needed to hide his identity in order to continue working. He was an exceptionally talented choreographer and visionary, and his work has been able to stand the test of time. Countless West Side Story productions each year use the original choreography because it is so iconic and it has become so ingrained in what people expect when they see West Side Story.
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